YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2009 - Taufik out, Chan on a high

Another day of upsets in Hong Kong. For some, the crowd clearly enjoyed them. Even took part of one of the upsets of the day when home hero Chan Yan Kit beat former Asian champion Park Sung Hwan of Korea.

The 23 year old has been in the quarter-finals before, but for the first time on his home soil. And he took all his chances and played beautifully to beat the tall Korean, who did not give in easily. “It’s the first time that I’ve reached my home event quarter-final, and it feels great, of course. To feel the fans behind me tonight was amazing. It added a bit of pressure but it was all positive for me,” said Chan.

“I had never beaten Park in the last four times we met, so I am even more pleased about my game tonight. I stayed patient and I took the right opportunities when they came.”

Fast, efficient, very reliable in defense and if Park led for the first seven points, once Chan got into the rhythm, the game was all his. With the roaring crowd behind him, he took the first game 21/15 and led all throughout the second game, while Park seemed clueless on whether he should keep hitting down the shuttles or keep the rallies going.

Either way, Chan had the right answer and he kept scoring point after point. The Korean, wearing his now usual pink shirt was close to getting back when he erased a five-point margin to get back to 12/13. But then, Chan accelerated, spurred on by the fans, for a final 21/16 success.

“I have to face Kenichi Tago now, who beat me 21/17 in the third game last time we played, so it should be a good match,” hinted Chan. Tago beat Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in two games, 23/21 – 21/9.

Peter Gade and Taufik Hidayat were meant to play each other again for one of the best quarter-final the Hong Kong fans could hope for – as well as Gade who was probably looking for revenge from his French Open defeat.

But the Indonesian was obviously not in the best mood nor form. His younger compatriot Simon Santoso played the perfect game to trouble the former Olympic Champion, who, when he saw there was no solution for him, just let go with the match as he sometime does, making it easy for Santoso to conclude 21/13 – 21/6 to the crowd’s disappointment as Taufik clearly was their favourite.

For Gade, it was all but a smooth ride against his younger compatriot Jan Jorgensen, who had beaten him in the only two confrontations the two players had played in International competition.

This time, Peter Gade was ready for a long and hard fight. And his game was steady enough to cope with the loss of the first game – partly because he hit the net band on a serve at 19/19. Keeping calm, finding the right solution, Gade played his usual attacking game and played well with the drift when it was on his side, to clinch the final victory 21/23 – 21/16 – 21/14.

“Peter just played better today. There’s no question about that. He took the lead in the last game and I knew it would be difficult then against the wind, but it was a fun game to play,” said Jorgensen, who is surely the Dane to watch in the future.

Lee Chong Wei and Hafiz Hashim will meet in an all-Malaysia affair after the latter upset Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh in three games – Lee will not get his revenge from the Singapore Open and will be firm favourite as he’s edged his compatriot many times in the past.

China had a terrific day at the Queen Elisabeth Stadium, only Du Pengyu lost throughout the whole day for China; All other players made their way through to the quarter finals.

If Wang Lin was not so impressive against Zhang Beiwen – she took three games to beat the Singaporean, the other Wangs, on the contrary, were outstanding; showing how fit was the young generation. First, Wang Shixian beat Tine Rasmussen in straight games, 21/16 – 21/18.

Then it was Wang Xin, who made an even stronger impression against 2^nd seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong, giving her taller and more experienced opponent a lesson of badminton, winning 21/17 – 21/12.

The six Chinese who had entered the draw are still in competition for the title, which leaves two spots for other nations, one being taken by a former Chinese – Pi Hongyan of France. The tiny French was however very close to losing to Korea’s new talent Sung Ji Yung, a qualifier whose mother Kim Yun-Ja had won the All England in 1986.

Sung would have made her mother proud when she led up to 18/16 in the decider against the World Championships’ Bronze medalist, but Pi’s experience prevailed and she was able to get back and win the match after a very tight contest. Together with Pi, Bae Seung Hee will be the only other non Chinese after she benefitted from Yao Jie’s withdrawal in the third game.

The women’s doubles from China also secured their four spots in the quarters, all in straight and easy games and top seed Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty from Malaysia will have a tough job to do, unless they’re helped with the two new scratch pairs of Korea, Park and Kim and Lee/Ha.

Malaysia will have a shot at victory as well in the men’s doubles, as they have already assured themselves a spot in the semis, with Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong taking on Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook for quite an unexpected outcome as both pairs have won against each other.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:42 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0